Front left to right: Abby Moffet and Yi Chan
Photo credit: Alyssa Tungul. Not pictured: KunKun Wang
At the Alaska WWAMI site in Anchorage, a student-led initiative is bringing the power of music into clinical spaces. Music in Medicine, a service-learning group founded by second-year medical students Will Simard and Alyssa Mandich and now co-led with first-year student Yi Chan, aims to create moments of comfort and connection for patients, families and care teams through live performance.
Music in Medicine is a partnership between Alaska WWAMI medical students and Anchorage’s Providence Volunteer Services that brings live music into the hospital environment for patients. Sessions are offered twice a month, helping create a calming and supportive atmosphere where patients can rest, reflect and heal.
The idea for the program emerged when Simard and Mandich recognized an opportunity to combine their musical backgrounds with their medical training. Both had played in bands before medical school and shared an interest in connecting with patients beyond traditional clinical interactions. When they realized that no similar program existed locally, they decided to build one.
For Simard, the project was inspired in part by his previous experiences volunteering as a musician in hospital settings during his undergraduate years. Those encounters demonstrated how music could shift the emotional tone of clinical spaces and provide meaningful comfort.
“I believe music can offer moments of comfort, reflection and even joy in otherwise difficult environments,” Simard says. “For patients and families, we hope the music creates a brief break from the stress and uncertainty of a hospital stay.”
Mandich brings a complementary perspective shaped by her experience in patient care. Before entering medical school, she worked as a patient care technician, where she observed the emotional challenges patients face during hospitalization and the importance of supportive environments.
“Will and I had both played in bands before starting medical school,” she says. “We found it to be a meaningful way to connect with patients and our community and wanted to bring that to Anchorage. I saw how comforting music can be for patients, and we hope this gives people an easy way to de-stress during their hospital stay—while also giving us an excuse to keep playing music.”
With Simard and Mandich joined in leadership by first-year student Yi Chan, the project has attracted a variety of medical student musicians who have embraced the opportunity to flex their creativity and bring moments of joy and connection to patients, caregivers and care providers.
Chan reflects joyfully on the group’s first performance in the pediatric department, noting that the response was immediate. “Children reacted to our music and wanted to watch our performance,” she says. “We were able to get a reaction out of an infant with one of their favorite songs, and that got the nursing staff excited to show the infant’s mom.” Family members danced along as they passed, and staff members stopped to listen as the music echoed down the hall.
In other hospital spaces, Chan says, the impact is just as clear. “People would either pass by or stop to watch, and they would have these smiles on their faces that make me think, ‘This is all worth it.’”
Beyond its impact on patients and families, Music in Medicine also aims to build community and provide support for the students themselves. Participants can share their talents, connect with peers and maintain creative outlets amid the demands of medical training. Organizers hope the program fosters empathy, connection and a broader understanding of healing as both a scientific and humanistic practice.
Though still in its early stages, Music in Medicine has ambitious goals. The group plans to continue hosting regular performances, strengthen collaboration with hospital staff, and potentially expand to additional clinical and community settings—including virtual bedside performances that would allow the project to include students from across WWAMI. By integrating music into patient care, this project reflects a growing recognition of the role creative expression can play in health and healing.
For its founders and leaders, Music in Medicine is about more than volunteering. It’s a way to be present with patients, share compassion and create moments of connection. By bringing music into hospital spaces, Alaska’s medical student musicians offer patients, families and hospital teams moments of calm and comfort, showing that care can take many forms.